1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seatbelt buckle, and more particularly to a seatbelt buckle for use in vehicle that may simplify the structure thereof and save force during unbuckling.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Seatbelt is a safety equipment for use in vehicle and seatbelt buckle contains three-point and five-point types, wherein the three-point type of seatbelt buckle is commonly used in the automobiles, yet the five-point type of seatbelt buckle is applied in racing cars and children's seats, etc. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a prior art five-point type of seatbelt buckle comprises a base 10, a disc member 20, an upper cover 30, a resilient element 40, a fixed pillar 50, four moveable pillars 60, an actuation member 70, a biasing element 80, and a pressing element 90, wherein the base 10 includes a plurality of receiving grooves 101, each having a peg erected therein, formed therein and a fixed grooves 102 provided therein, the disc member 20 is constructed in the form of a circular piece 201 and includes a central hole 202 arranged at the center thereof and having a transverse plate 203 disposed therein, and the circular piece 201 includes a plurality of openings 204, bores 205 and integrally formed isolation decks 206 secured thereon, such that five inserting slots 207 form therebetween and each has an elastic piece 208 mounted in the inner side thereof. The upper cover 30 includes a chamber 301 defined on one side thereof. The resilient element 40 is a conical spring, and the fixed pillar 50 in the shape of a hollow cylinder extends outwardly and includes a small-diameter segment attached on one end thereof, the movable pillar 60 in the shape of a hollow cylinder extends outwardly and includes peripheral bulge 601 affixed on one end thereof, and includes an obliquely-cut retaining portion 602 disposed at another end thereof. The actuation member 70 includes four indentions 701 arranged at the center thereof, and includes five U-shaped notches 702 provided around the rim thereof. The biasing element 80 is constructed in the shape of a cylinder and includes two engaging tabs 801 mounted on one end thereof, and includes two opposite snap-on recesses 802 and four acting protrusions 803 affixed on another end thereof. The pressing member 90 is a twisted sheet and includes a compressing segment 901 attached on one end thereof, and includes an abutting segment 902 defined on another end thereof and having two locking slots 903 formed on the bottom thereof.
In assembly, the resilient element 40 is disposed in the fixed groove 102 of the base 10, by using springs, the fixed and movable pillars 50 and 60 are placed in the receiving grooves 101 of the base 10, and the actuation member 70 and the disc member 20 are engaged with the base 10 in turn so that the fixed and movable pillars 50 and 60 slidably fit into the notches 702 of the actuation member 70, thus buckling the fixed engaging piece (not shown) into the fixed pillar 50, and screw elements may screw with the base 10 through the bores 205 of the disc member 20, the biasing element 80 engages with the transverse plate 203 of the disc member 20 by way of the two snap-on recesses 802, such that the four acting protrusions 803 abut against the four indentions 701 of the actuation member 70, and the pressing element 90 is fitted in the chamber 301 of the upper cover 30 so as to be confined therein, and then the upper cover 30 is capped onto the base 10 and the disc member 20, and by means of screw elements, the two locking slots 903 of the pressing element 90 engage with the two engaging tabs 801 of the biasing elements 80, finally by covering a cap 905, finishing the assembly of the seatbelt buckle.
In operation, movable engaging pieces (not shown) of the seatbelt are inserted from the inserting slots 207 of the disc member 20 to engage with the movable pillars 60. While unbuckling the seatbelt, the pressing element 90 is buttoned to push the biasing element 80 downwardly for contacting with the actuation member 70 such that the movable pillars 60 move downward, and by virtue of the elastic pieces 208 of the disc member 20, pushing the movable engaging pieces out of the inserting slots 207.
However, such a prior art seatbelt buckle for use in vehicle still has the following defects:
1. The structure of the disc member 20 is complicated, therefore causing a troublesome manufacture. Besides, the assembly of elastic piece 208 is difficult, resulting in a high production cost.
2. During operating the pressing element 90, the user has to consume a large amount of force.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.